How to keep duck pen from stinking

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

It was 87 degrees here - YES! Believe it or not in OHIO! Well, my pen is starting to stink and attract flies. Definitely can't have that so please tell me how to fix it. My pen is a dog pen, 10x10x6 and it's just in the grass. Well, it was grass and now it's mud. I just put some straw down before I took these pics hoping it would help:

Thoughts?

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

we do the 10x10 dog pen also and it is getting stinky. We have to move it about once/month. I've started to let them free range in the afternoon in the hopes that they'll poo somewhere other than their pen. Its getting

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I haven't let mine out of the pen yet - I'm scared and they are only 7 weeks I think. Not sure what my roo will do. They've only been out in the pen a couple weeks so I haven't moved it yet. Not sure I want to because I really like my grass. Hoping for ideas

 

[Anny]

For my chicken I put down Stall Dry in the run and it seems to help, I have not yet added the ducks to the chicken run.

 

[Lach Cnoc Farm]

Cedar Shavings saved my life!! lol

seriously though, i got a dirt cheap ripped bag of cedar shavings from the lumber yard...realizing i couldn't use them for the chickens i went and dumped them into the duck pen..the yard is sooo much less stinky now! and it even sucked up all the mud!

it smelled like cedar for a while, which was a welcome chage. its been good for a couple weeks now, i will have to buy another bag soon, it doesn't stink YET, but ima be ready for it this time!

i keep 7 scovie babies, 2 big ones, 2 other ducks and 2 geese in it.

 

[AhBee01]

I use pine shavings, not sure if ceder is safe?
We also covered our pens, which help so, so ,much! We will be roofing it with metal roofing, or a shingle roof sometime soon, we have a very heavy duty in ground pool cover to tarp it with, which was free when my BIL used to work where they made them and goofed them up!
We don't have smelly pens any more!
I also do not have a pool in the run with them, they get let out to swim!

 

[headred]

I use straw and then rake it up about every 3 days. We also move our pen (see website) around the yard so that nothing stays in one place very long. Good luck!

 

[Anny]

I wouldn't use pine shaving out side, maybe inside the coop they seem like they would be a soaking mess outside if it rained.

I would not recommend using cedar shavings. They are toxic to most animals.

 

[Omniskies]

Letting them swim on the outside of the pen will help a lot. Ducks will spend all of their time splashing around and making a mess.

You can also try bottled fly traps. I love them and this year I plan on making a bunch of my own. Take soda bottles of any size and fill it a little under a quarter full with a mixture of water, manure, and feed. You want it to be mostly water - the manure/feed is just to attract the flies.

Keep the lid off and tie the bottles up high somewhere - or alternately screw the cap on and cut one small hole in the side. The flies will crawl in through the hole and drown themselves. Dump and refill when full - normally after there isn't any more room for drowning.

For extra credit decorate your fly trap of doom

 

[katemary63]

I was also going to say, let them out and keep their pool out of the pen. We let our ducks out first thing in the morning. They return to the pen at dusk. They pretty much just sleep in there.